Fraggle Rock Animated

So Fraggle Rock the animated series is going to be on dvd? Has someone seen the show, i have just seen the start on youtube, is it good? Does it start at the end of were the the Fraggles left off. Is it a U.S. show or was it just in Australia?

I've only seen what's on youtube (1 ep plus the opening) ... I barely remember there WAS a cartoon ... From the one ep that I've seen on youtube, it can't possibly take place after the series, since the Gorgs are still bent on stopping Fraggles. According to plot summaries I've read, some eps are like follow-ups to certain episodes of the main series, but all in all it's basically it's own thing.

Fraggle Rock was originally aired on HBO. So, for children less lucky then others, there was the cartoon. I believe either ABC or CBS aired these shows on Saturday mornings (wow how i remember the days when cartoons were only on sat mornings and how excited i was lol).

So, no it wasn't a follow up. It aired i think at FR's 4th season... i could be really wrong.

And no... it wasn't follow ups. They had different stories. They remade the music to match the characters voices, but they kept the music fount in the HBO version of FR.

But this is exciting news to me. Where did you learn this? I saw some on ebay awhile back but nothing on Amazon so i felt they were fakes

Fraggle Rock was originally aired on HBO. So, for children less lucky then others, there was the cartoon. I believe either ABC or CBS aired these shows on Saturday mornings (wow how i remember the days when cartoons were only on sat mornings and how excited i was lol).

Click to expand...

So close. Actually, it was NBC. It was definately not the network that aired Muppet babies (CBS). I don't know why, myself. maybe it was because Henson was knocking at NBC's door.

I'm going out on a limb and say this show was probably meant either as a prequal or sequal to the series, as in the original series Bible, Doc and Sprocket wouldn't have been in the show. That could of course meant they moved, or just weren't living there yet.

No DVD set is avaialble, but if you check out the single release disk Fraggle Rock DVD's, not the season sets, they have a full episode of the cartoon series each. The 12" Fraggle Plush (which you may still be able to find at KB Toys) came with a free DVD that had half an episode on it- half an episode as it's a 11 minute cartoon short that was part of a full half hour.

EDIT- Actually a DVD is available, but only in Australia, and it's a region coded 4 disk, so unless you have a region free DVD player, you can't watch it.

Plus it started airing in September 1987, about six months after the puppet version's 96th and final episode in March of that year.

BTW, who would've been a better choice to voice some of the characters on the animated FR, if they couldn't spend more money to get the original puppetteers (especially Richard Hunt for Junior Gorg, who I wish Marvel would've used since the original puppet sounds a lot better than the baby-sounding version in the cartoon) to do their voices? (Although I have to admit, I myself think Rob Paulsen's animated Boober is spot-on to the original Dave Goelz puppet version, kinda like how Frank Welker's Baby Kermit is similar to the original adult Kermit as performed by Jim Henson, as is Greg Berg's Baby Fozzie being similar to the original Frank Oz Muppet)

BTW, who would've been a better choice to voice some of the characters on the animated FR, if they couldn't spend more money to get the original puppetteers (especially Richard Hunt for Junior Gorg, who I wish Marvel would've used since the original puppet sounds a lot better than the baby-sounding version in the cartoon) to do their voices?

Click to expand...

I've heard conflicting things. I think Karen Prell herself once posted here saying they couldn't get the puppeteers due to a schedualling conflict. But I've also heard money was a problem as well.

That said, I think some of the voices really worked, Rob Paulsen didn't just impersonate Dave Golez, but he also made the roles his own. And whoever voiced Red was very close too. But Junior Gorg was way off, and almost more Elmer Fudd like than a big goofy guy with a goofy deep voice.

Plus, there's no way you can impersonate Jerry Nelson. When that guy's vocal cords were made, someone dropped the mold.

And I'll admit, Townsend Coleman's animated Gobo was OK, but it just wasn't the same without the Canadian accent Jerry Nelson gave to the original puppet. (I think Townsend's still doing VOs for NBC's famed Thursday night "Must-See-TV" line-up, if I'm not mistaken, plus I think his best role might be either Michaelangelo of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles or the Tick from the 1994 cartoon)

I hope we'll see the entire 13-episode run on DVD after the 4th season set is released here in the US in October.

Click to expand...

It would be perfect if we did. I mean, then we'd have the complete complete series. The animated series basically is nothing too much more than a supplimentary show. Plus, they own the distribution to the cartoon, so there's nothing majorly stopping them from doing so.

For poor kids like me who grew up on welfare and in the ghetto in the 1980's(heh), aside from going over to more well-to-do friends houses who had HBo...the Saturday morning Fraggle Rock show and the plethora of 82-86 era and 1988 Fraggle merchandise was all we had(FR began being reran on Disney channel by the early 90's on basic cable however)

I loved the Fraggle Rock cartoon. Heck thats why I bought the stand alone newer Fraggle Rock dvd cheap releases, as they have
the episodes on it.

Now here's the thing:

1. Why hasnt Muppet Babies been released on dvd?

2. Does anyone remember the pseudo Fraggle Rock spinoff, and very Fraggle Rockish "Scary Scary Monsters" franchise and show from JHC that was *suppose* to debut in 1998?

1. Muppet Babies hasn't been released on DVD, because all of the references in the show all have their own unique copyright. Yes, I am sure George Lucas would allow his Star Wars references to be used, as he was a personal friend of Team Henson (the fact that Frank Oz originally performed Yoda would prove as much), but all the other references--such as Wizard of Oz, Star Trek, The Jetsons, et al--would need proper copyright handling and all that.

2. That show was a flop. It originally was going to be coupled with Muppet Babies (seeing as the familar closing theme is actually an instrumental version of that Monsters series), but because it failed so badly, it was scrapped and Muppet Babies was aired of its own accord.

Regarding the animated Fraggle Rock, it was neither a prequel (as Doc & Sprocket were in the show by its starting episode) or a sequel (as the Gorgs were still mean to the Fraggles & Doc still didn't believe that Fraggles existed). Instead, the series was more of a in-between show set during the timeline of the original show, considering that even some of the plots for the cartoon were outright borrowed from similar plotlines used in the original series.

No offence toward's the show, but they had a lot of bad designes (i mean seriously, go to muppet wiki, and compare the muppet cantus and the animated cantus and you'll see what i mean). to me, its not a bad series, but you know how Marjory said "you can not leave the magic,"? Well you can't duplicate it either, in my mind, nothing will be as good as the origional show. At least untill the movie comes out, then i might change my opinion.

Know it? Considering that was the overall theme for most of the series (that being to connect the four species--human, Fraggle, Doozer, and Gorg--together by showing how each must rely on the other), fans of the show LIVED it!

Know it? Considering that was the overall theme for most of the series (that being to connect the four species--human, Fraggle, Doozer, and Gorg--together by showing how each must rely on the other), fans of the show LIVED it!

Click to expand...

Is that what they mean by "live by the rule of the rock"? or is that something else entirely?

You are correct. It'll be the 18th anniversary of the passing of one of the most visionary and influential persons--I think--of the entire world & the creator of all things Muppet.

With that in mind, I'll probably end up soaking in anything Muppet I can get my hands on--especially the "More Than One Person" tribute--and will spend the entire day devoting my time to Jim & his creations (I do this already, but it'll be on overload in 9 days).

You know what would be cool, even though It won't happen, is in honer of his death, they play The Muppet Movie on that day on the Disney Channel. Or turn that block into a mini Muppet Show Marathon. that would be nice.

You know what would be cool, even though It won't happen, is in honer of his death, they play The Muppet Movie on that day on the Disney Channel. Or turn that block into a mini Muppet Show Marathon. that would be nice.

Click to expand...

Indeed it would be nice, but--as you said--it's very unlikely that such a thing would occur.